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WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 28 of The Rising of the Shield Hero, "Shaking Land," now streaming on Funimation, Crunchyroll & Hulu.
The recent episodes of the Rising Of The Shield Hero centered on the Spirit Tortoise and its unusual thirst for souls to prevent the incoming waves. In Episode 26, the anime introduced the Spirit Tortoise while depicting the Four Cardinal Heroes' lack of a sense of responsibility and the brutal capabilities the creature possesses.
On the other hand, Episode 28 focused on the battle strategy between the Allied Forces and Naofumi for defeating the Spirit Tortoise. With the introduction of Ost Hourai, the Spirit Tortoise Familiar, a new dynamic is introduced, contributing to the necessity of the Spirit Tortoise's downfall.
A Hard-Pressed Battle
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In the first few seconds of Episode 29 of The Rising of the Shield Hero, the nature of the Spirit Tortoise – a gargantuan-looking creature with grayish skin covered in earthy properties. This scene gives way to the Allied Forces' Calvary Forces, commandeered by Naofumi, the Shield Hero. Within the opening moments of the decisive battle, Naofunmi paced around the battlefield while holding a flag, boosting the soldiers' morale, revealing his skills as a tactical strategist. However, it can also be deduced that the soldiers’ morale wasn't boosted alone by the flag but also by the person holding it.
In Season 1 of The Rising of the Shield Hero, Naofumi managed to win the hearts of the citizens of Melromarc by saving them from countless perilous situations despite being discriminated against as weak and powerless. Currently, it is safe to say, Naofumi is the uncrowned leader of the Four Cardinal Heroes. Naofumi opened the impending battle by diverting the attention of a majority of the Spirit Tortoise familiars towards his crew by using the skill: Hate Reaction. In the next moment, numerous familiars swarmed their crew, leading Ost Hourai to use a powerful skill – Gravity Manipulation. Using this skill, Hourai managed to subdue most of the familiars allowing Naofumi’s party members to clear the horde using moves like Raphtalia’s Ying-Yang blade and Filo’s Drifta Tornado.
However, despite their efforts, the horde did not show any signs of reducing. The show’s scenery then changes to the Spirit Tortoise crushing the cavalry forces easily, portraying the strength of the ginormous beast. After a few battle moments, about 50 percent of the siege weapon teams focused on stopping the Spirit Tortoise were wiped out. However, after what seemed like a moment of despair, the siege forces managed to bring down the right foreleg of the Spirit Tortoise. The effects of their efforts were even multiplied by the noble self-sacrifice of the Spirit Tortoise Kingdom's Commander, who detonated a bomb that also killed him.
The Spirit Tortoise Death and Undeath
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The combined efforts of the Siege team managed to halt the Spirit Tortoise’s movement, but another critical problem surfaced: the Spirit Tortoise beheading. At the same time, Rishia and Ost Hourai discovered a frightening secret about the Spirit Tortoise. According to Ost Hourai, “When the Spirit Tortoise can longer take souls directly it begins a long range assault.” Simultaneously, as Hourai revealed this fact, sharp, purple cone-like structures emerged from the Spirit Tortoise, attacking the Allied battle forces and brutally killing many soldiers.
Shocked at this revelation, Naofumi then relied on his last option, which involved using high-class multi-caster ritual magic, similar to the large-scale magic skill used by the Pope on Naofumi in Season 1. After the spell's activation, Naofumi, and his party members grew closer to the Spirit Tortoise to avoid the long-range assault since the Spirit Tortoise won't hurt itself and cut the head of the Spirit Tortoise. The multi-caster magic dealt a deathly blow to the Spirit Tortoise Head, and Naofumi worsened the blow, using a shield skill strengthened by Ost Hourai. Following swiftly, Raphtalia and Filo complemented the collective efforts of everyone by using the skills: Spiral Strike and Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny to cut the head of the Spirit Tortoise.
After the Spirit Tortoise Death, everyone rejoiced; however, Naofumi and his crew members were shocked that Ost Hourai was still alive since her life force is connected to the Spirit Tortoise. The episode ends after Hourai made the shocking comment, "Looks like you haven't defeated the Spirit Tortoise yet," while acting shifty. This comment breeds a lot of questions such as, 'Does the Spirit Tortoise have another form?' "Is Ost Hourai actually a traitor? "What comes next for the Allied forces soldiers?" "Who is the brain behind the Spirit Tortoise's early awakening and havoc? Hopefully, Episode 29 unfolds the meaning behind these controversies.